Arizona Financial Theater
July 3rd 2024

Our latest venture into the world of geriatric pop took us to the Venue Formerly Known as the Dodge Theater in downtown Phoenix for a gathering of 80’s greats, Okay, for some loose definition of “greats”, revolving around, “People you might have heard of.” Possibly. Well, I was fairly stoked anyway, finally getting to see Thomas Dolby, a mere 43 years after Europe and the Pirate Twins became one of my earliest exposures to synth-pop. It still kicks ass now. Unfortunately, in an equally throwback spirit, a couple of members of his crew tested positive for COVID, forcing Mr. Dolby to drop out. Oh, well, sure he’ll be back around in another 43 years. I’ll only be one hundred and one.

Even without him, there were still a lot of bands to cram in, meaning the show started at 6 pm. So we missed Eddie Muñoz of The Plimsouls. Which is fine, because they would fall outside the definition cited above for me. They had one song I’d heard of, A Million Miles Away, but would not previously have been able to tell you who sung it. We will therefore move on to Bow Wow Wow. Or, for contractually required legal reasons, Annabella’s Bow Wow Wow. There was, apparently, a schism between lead singer Annabella Lwin and bassist Leigh Gorman, both putting shows on under the name. We’d seen Lwin at a previous eighties fest, but that was kinda sad, being just her and a backing track. She seemed much happier to have a band this time, and the drummer was certainly a help. No shortage of energy. Being the only performer younger than me might have been a factor.

• Love, Peace and Harmony
• W.O.R.K. (N.O. Nah No! No! My Daddy Don’t)
• Roustabout
• Do You Wanna Hold Me?
• Quiver (Arrows in My)
• I Want Candy

The Tubes are something of a Phoenix icon, having started off here in the seventies. They’re not a band with which I’m particularly familiar. But it does not appear they have aged very well, and checking out some of their best-known songs, such as White Punks On Dope… They may not have been very good to begin with. Lead singer Fee Waybill is now aged seventy-three, and while age is not necessarily a barrier to a good performance (see: Jagger, M), this came across, to quote Chris, more like bad karaoke than anything to provoke the expected feelings of nostalgia. The backing band were… okay. But we were waiting eagerly for the five little words that mean so much: “This is our last song.”

• TV Is King
• She’s a Beauty
• A Matter of Pride
• Sushi Girl
• Tip of My Tongue
• Talk to Ya Later

Fortunately, things perked up thereafter, with the arrival of Men Without Hats – though as Chris pointed out, their drummer actually was wearing a hat. The Safety Dance was basically the soundtrack to my first term at college, so hearing it played twice here – they opened with the regular single version, and finished off with the 12″ extended mix – was like shooting pure, undiluted nostalgia into my veins. While a one-hit wonder in the UK, they had other songs I liked, with Where do the Boys Go? and Pop Goes the World particular favorites. They were all delivered with verve and enthusiasm by Canadian frontman Ivan Doroschuk, whose voice seemed unchanged from forty years ago. This was a much-needed uptick after the mixed results earlier.

• The Safety Dance
• Moonbeam
• Where Do the Boys Go?
• Antarctica
• I Got the Message
• Pop Goes the World
• The Safety Dance 12”

Moved up to second on the bill, due to the absence of Dolby, were Modern English. This had the potential to be awkward, because while their song I Melt With You was successful in the States, they never reached the main charts at all in their native UK. That song was literally all I’d ever heard of them, and I was braced for this to be underwhelming. Despite breaking one of the unwritten rules of this kind of event, by playing not one but TWO songs from their latest album – nobody’s here for the new stuff – they were actually a pleasant surprise. Interesting songs, rather harder-edged than I’d have expected from Melt, to the point I’m genuinely interested in checking out some of their other work. Of course, they finished with I Melt With You, in an extended version, the crowd singing along enthusiastically.

• Gathering Dust
• Someone’s Calling
• Long in the Tooth
• Crazy Lovers
• Swans on Glass
• I Melt With You

Finally, we had Tom Bailey, better known as one-third of the Thompson Twins (yes: there were three of them. It was the eighties). There are cases where this kind of solo split-up can seem a bit sad: see Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet. But in this case, Bailey is the only member of the key trio (as whom the band found their greatest success) still in music. According to Wikipedia, Joe Leeway is now a hypnotherapist and Alannah Currie does performance art. Bailey now performs with an all-woman band behind him, playing keyboards, percussion and guitar in addition to singing, and looking very elegant while he does so, sporting an all-white suit.

At the time they were biggest, I was not a particular fan, finding them a little style over substance. But a lot of their songs have stood the test of time very well, and the re-arrangements which Bailey had done for this tour made them sound fresh and interesting. However, I was equally impressed by the cover of Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer – though of course nothing can quite compare to the version of that song which appears on Stop Making Sense.

• Sister of Mercy Intro
• Love on Your Side
• The Gap
• Lay Your Hands on Me
• If You Were Here
• King for a Day
• You Take Me Up
• Lies
• Psycho Killer
• Doctor! Doctor!
• Hold Me Now

It seems that word of the missing Mr. Dolby had not necessarily reached everyone, going by the number of people who seemed to be hanging around after the end of Bailey’s set. While not getting the chance to see him was disappointing, we’re still talking a solid four hours of entertainment, from a comfortably seated position [these things matter nowadays…] on the front row of the balcony. It largely reaffirmed my notion that the eighties was, and will remain, the best decade for music. Except for The Tubes, anyway.